UPDATE: He’s back. Gordon Edes of ESPN Boston confirms that Bobby Valentine will indeed be the next manager of the Red Sox.

Valentine was offered the job while he was away on personal business in Japan and immediately accepted. He is expected to fly back home tomorrow while CSNNE.com reports that he will likely be introduced as Boston’s new skipper during a press conference Thursday.

Valentine, now 61 years old, hasn’t managed in the majors since 2002. He has a 1117-1072 record (.510) over 15 seasons between the Rangers and Mets.

While Valentine has his fair share of critics (and enemies) around the game, baseball is more fun with him in the dugout. Or at least more interesting. And with the Red Sox still reeling from one of the worst collapses in baseball history, this will be a fascinating situation to watch.

7:13 PM: Nothing official from the team yet, but Mike Lynch of WCVB-TV in Boston is reporting that the Red Sox and Bobby Valentine have reached a “verbal agreement” for him to be the team’s next manager.

We have heard conflicting reports this afternoon about whether Tigers third base coach Gene Lamont is still in the mix for the job. As of this evening, Lamont was told that he is still a candidate.

Valentine is expected to return from Japan tomorrow, so we’ll likely hear something official in the next 24 hours.

By all previous accounts it seems that Bobby V is Larry Lucchino’s man and not Cherington’s. Makes you wonder who’s steering the ship.

Now all they need to do is hire Omar Minaya, who it’s been reported previously they had interest in and Steve Phillips as “Special Assistants to Somebody” and then some may start to call the Red Sox the Boston Mets.

So, you are saying that Heyward having a horrible year was the manager’s fault? and Uggla hitting .200 for 1/2 the year? and Prado’s production falling off a cliff? and the injuries to the pitching staff? You can blame Fredi for silly in-game tactics and using his your relievers too much, but those weren’t the reasons the Braves took a nose dive.

THIS team, as opposed to the 2007 team did perform well below expectations Ari, I’m pretty sure you’re aware of that. And if what you claim is true of managers, we should also expect the same this season as well, because they don’t make much of a difference as you claim.

Not that I believe it. I think managing well is very important for team morale as well as putting the right guys in the right situation to excel. This puts more W’s up than you want to admit. IMO anyway.

Hey Paper, by your standards he didn’t help since Freddi couldn’t get out of the way, You could say he was the cherry on top of the injury and production fall off sundae. Why oh why did he pitch to Hunter Pence instead of walking him like he did the previous time so he could face the DP machine known as Wilson Valdez? I mean only the season was on the line you know…

They do much more than just call the bullpen Ari, c’mon man. They can keep guys in line, or let things run amok. They can make sure guys stay in good shape, or let them get fat and lazy. They can get guys excited, or let them become complacent. They should know the best match ups when it’s time to use bench players or the pen. With that said, some players do what they should without prompting or help, but others can’t or won’t. Maybe I put too much emphasis into the importance of good managing, and maybe you put too little? And that’s what really doesn’t matter when it’s all said and done right? ;>)

The Rays and Blue Jays are speeding past the Red Sox and Yankees…..for years.

This hire – combined with the way it was done…the so-called GM being overruled – is simply the next step in the obvious continuing deterioration of the Red Sox.

The Red Sox and Yankees got by for years by throwing money at players to make up for their front office mistakes (as one Boston writer said today: “Ben Cherington seems like a really nice guy. He’s smart, hardworking, and probably won’t throw $140 million at C.J. Wilson, like his predecessor surely would have done by now.”). Teams such as the Rays and Blue Jays have caught up and passed the free spenders by having solid front offices and coaching staffs. And due to the poor economy, cash flow in areas like ad revenues and merchandise are down throughout MLB, sticking the Red Sox and Yankees with poor, excessive, long-term contracts to so-so players that they cannot give away….because they were the only 2 teams that would take on these contracts in the past.

Initially Valentine’s style will light a fire under the team. But once it starts unraveling and the so-so players start rebelling (Yuk will want out first), it is going to be comical to watch the ship sink. The front office and ownership are not unified behind the (latest) ESPN clown, so he will get fractured support. And the infighting with factions leaking that they never wanted Valentine in the first place will then rise to a level that will keep the story and posting level of TMZHardballTalk hitting record levels, as teams like the Rays and Blue Jays will have solid years, but will not get the attention – because publications like TMZHardballTalk are not about baseball, but all about gossip, innuendo and immature, flippant remarks.

I feel like Peter Schiff when he went on financial TV-radio programs during all of 2007 saying America’s big banks were on a collision course with disaster and would fail, and having people just outright laugh at him when they weren’t crucifying him (see You Tube).

How’d that turn out?

I need “facts”?

How about oversized payrolls on both teams, the players having a sense of entitlement when it comes to winning (like their fans do) as opposed to a hunger and commitment to win. How about lazy front offices that haven’t made savvy moves in years, only taking on salary in trades and free agent signings. And now no one will take their garbage.

I’m a big Derek Jeter fan. If anything, I believe he’s been UNDERrated. But neither team has a real leader/money player anymore. The Red Sox have slowly sunk since Manny was in the middle of the lineup getting the clutch hits as well as good pitches for the players batting ahead of him. And no one in their right mind thinks Jeter has the impact he used to have. Woe be it to Cano when he has the parasitic media running up to him 20 times a day asking what the Yankees are doing wrong and when they’ll square it away. An All-Star player, but not a guy to carry the leadership load.

And my goodness, the Yankees don’t even have 3 solid starters, and the Red Sox don’t have a bull pen closer….or 4 starters.

I got more “facts”, but why bother.

Red Sox and Yankee fans are so spoiled that they think they know baseball. Like a rich kid that doesn’t understand that his ulti-million dollar trust fund is not worth $1,543.82.

If a lot of people thumb up your post the Red Sox will wint he WS this year.

You just don’t get it, do you?

cur68 - Nov 29, 2011 at 10:53 PM

tash: re. “I need “facts”?” nooo…you need a straightjacket. Jeez man, you drag in the economic collapse of our lifetimes and say “I can predict baseball will go the same way”? WTF? Just what are your bona fides to be making that statement? They’d better be as solid as Peter Schiff’s if you think anyone should take you seriously. As it is, could your ego be any bigger?

Look, I’m a Jay’s fan. I hope they do overtake the AL East and own it like I own my pickup truck, but there is NO WAY that eventuality is certain the same way that it is not certain The Town or the Universe will collapse next season, dig?

Here’s some unsolicited advice: predict with a modicum of caution and stop acting like this is some cosmic truth to which you alone are privy too. And reline your hat with better foil: the stuff you are using is way too thin.

You are only half-right. The Red Sux are sinking fast, but the Yankees have held onto their young talent (including several pitchers who will be successful at the major-league level) and will be just fine once Betances and Banuelos reach Ivan Nova’s level of consistency pitching in MLB.

Your prediction of the comedy that will ensue in Boston is spot on though, so you get full credit for that call. Watch the fair-weather fan base quickly distance themselves from that disaster waiting to happen.

For all there speeding, the Jays are still stuck in fourth place and the only reason the Rays made it past the RS was, .. well we know. but, they aren’t the Mets, .. you can’t expect them to tank every year.

And the Blue Jays are on the rise with multiple star players, starting with the best power hitter in MLB – better then Puhols or Fielder. And the Blue Jays have a terrific manager, the guy that made Francona and Epstein look good when he ran the Red Sox pitching staff because those two guys don’t know crap about pitching…..and have the record to prove it (before Ferrall arrived in Boston).

The blue jays have to be thankful that MLB added another wildcats team. Since the transition 15 years ago of teams owning their own tv stations, and the massive revenues generated, mediocre teams like the blue jays could go 50 years without making the post season. As it is now, I’d bet, and get even odds, that they don’t make it this decade. Sucks to be a Toronto fan. Can’t imagine what it must feel like on opening day to know that you only have 161 games left, even if they play above their potential.

“And the Blue Jays have a terrific manager, the guy that made Francona and Epstein look good when he ran the Red Sox pitching staff because those two guys don’t know crap about pitching…..and have the record to prove it (before Ferrall arrived in Boston).”

The Blue Jay’s staff was a joke last year under Farrell. The Red Sox were running Andrew Miller and Tim Wakefield and John Lackey out there and they STILL had a better team ERA than the Jays.

its amazing how little people know. Valentine wasn’t randomly in Japan, he was there on business. any half wit should know he managed in Japan for years and no doubt has some business there still.

When Valentine was with the Mets, it was never an issue with the players and him, it was the GM and Valentine who couldn’t get along. history shows that the Mets were wrong when they fired Valentine instead of Phillips, and Phillips has admitted he was just as much a part of the problem regarding the issues between him and Valentine.

Valentine managed well with some big personalities. hard workers like Youklis and Pedroia will get along fine with Valentine, it turds like JD Drew that would have had to take his act elsewhere if he were still alive.

Do people not remember the disaster that was the Mets locker room when Valentine was there? Beer and chicken is tame compared to what those guys were doing. Among other things, position players had poker games going on during the game. Valentine is no kind of disciplinarian, nor is he a “my way or the highway” kind of manager.

Wrong. Bobby Bonilla (one of the biggest losers in baseball) and Ricky Henderson (hey, its Ricky, you can’t get mad) were playing poker during Game 6 of the 1999 NLCS, to “protest” being removed from the game. Bonilla dumped in the offseason and Ricky was waived in May.

Typical New England loser is what 1hysterectomy is. He claims to be a huge Pats fan too, but watch him go running in the other direction once the Pats spiral down into mediocrity and beyond.

randygnyc - Nov 29, 2011 at 10:29 PM

I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again. Bobby Valentine, like showalter, doesn’t take a managers job without the power to control baseball operations. No way is he taking orders from Cherrington. Essentially, this move is confirmation of Cherringtons training wheels, short lease, and triple, secret, probation. Valentine will get immediate respect, but eventually, this will have to turn to resentment from his players because valentine can only manage with his ego in mind. He makes moves not because it’s the textbook managerial move, but rather to draw attention to his “genius”.

And a short reply to the poster who was “concerned” about the Yankees reduced profits. Lmao. According to some NY sportscasters, the Yankees have revenues, along with their tv network, YES, of over 450 million per year. I’ve hear they can easily handle 300 million per year in baseball payroll and would it if wasn’t for the luxury tax. They could sign pujols, fielder and cj Wilson and not even feel it.

Umm. You realize that it was Pedro that said that, not “the Red Sox”? And that that was 2004? The year they won the World Series? By making the greatest comeback in baseball history? Against the Yankees?

You do realize that Yankee fans really don’t care much about what amounts to a one-week lapse in the history of the most storied franchise in baseball. Much more desirable than going 86 years without a title. The Boston franchise is a JOKE and nowhere near on par with the Yankees. Then again, no franchise is.